Brian Boucher, Is This the Breaking Point for Museums?, Artnet, 22
Severe cuts to public funding and political uncertainties are straining museums across the West.
It would be hard to exaggerate the seismic shift museums across the West are facing.
As governments slash funding and threaten further cutbacks in public support, American museums, long facing dwindling backing from central bodies like the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), have typically looked to corporations, individual donors, private foundations, and earned income to prop up their budgets. British and especially German museums have long been able to rely on public largesse to a greater degree, but now even they, and museums in other European countries, are facing politicians who say they cannot justify cultural funding in times of strained budgets.